


goodbye to you, goodbye to everything i thought i knew

by quibbler



Series: band au [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 13:20:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8491282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quibbler/pseuds/quibbler
Summary: The best day of Bobbi Morse's life is when she finds out there will be two new additions to their neighbourhood. Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons become like family to her, and the two of them become inseparable. When Jemma's older brother Lance joins the family, tensions run high.Everything is great until it starts to fall apart.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Laura (anneweaver) for beta-ing and helping me brainstorm for this universe!

Bobbi is barely even three when she gets the best news of her short life.

"BABIES?!" she yells, her eyes wide as she stares at her mommy and daddy. "Two new babies here?!"

Her mommy nods, trying to hit her daddy for making a funny face. "Keep your voice down, sweetie. Yes, two babies. Mrs. Fitz is pregnant and so is Mrs. Simmons."

Bobbi smiles as big as she can and it hurts her cheeks, but she is so happy that she can't help it. "Two new sib-wings!" She gets to be the big sister! Her cousins can't make fun of her for being the littlest no more. "I can be a big sis--a big sistuh!"

She hates r's and sometimes she hates s's but none of these things matter today because there will be babies for her to play with soon.

Mommy and Daddy look at each other funny and then nod, but she doesn't see because she is thinking about what to do with two siblings.

\-----

Mrs. Fitz goes into labour first, the August heat making everything feel all sleepy and fuzzy around the edges. Bobbi bounces on her heels at the window for hours when she gets home from preschool, and her mother tells her that the baby won't be home for at least another day. She barely gets any sleep that night, too excited to meet the baby.

It takes a few days for them to meet, though not for lack of trying on Bobbi's part. Her parents are busy working, and she can't exactly walk down the street by herself, so she waits impatiently until the weekend when her mother brings a gigantic bag of blankets and diapers and some of Bobbi's old toys that survived her whirlwind of destruction.

Bobbi doesn't remember walking to Mrs. Fitz's house; she is so focused on the little bundle of blankets in Mrs. Fitz's arms that she stops hearing everything the adults are saying. She half-runs, half-waddles up to the chair but she is still too short to see the baby. She harrumphs, and Mrs. Fitz looks down with a grin. "Climb onto the armrest, Bobbi." So she does.

She perches precariously on the chair, looking down at the baby, only its face visible. The baby's eyes are open and blue like Mrs. Fitz's, and when Bobbi gently pokes at its cheek, the baby frowns. "What's its name?"

"His name is Leo, sweetheart."

Her almost baby brother's name is Leo. She commits that to memory.

\-----

Only three weeks later, Mrs. Simmons is rushed to the hospital. Bobbi tries to be less excited, but her second sibling is going to say hello to the world soon and she bounces in her seat at the dinner table. It takes another two days before her mother puts together another big bag of presents for the baby and Bobbi holds onto her mother's hand as they cross the street.

Mrs. Simmons looks so tired but she's smiling at the baby burrito in her arms while Mr. Simmons is tucking away all of the presents. Bobbi lifts her arms and her mother scoops her up so that she can see the baby, as there is armrest for her to climb onto that will help.

This baby is giggling, and Bobbi grins widely back at it, its big brown eyes looking around. Its tiny arms flail around and Bobbi reaches out a finger that is soon enclosed in a tiny hand. She looks up at Mrs. Simmons, who seems to already know what she wants to ask. "Her name is Jemma."

Now both of Bobbi's almost siblings are here and she doesn't stop smiling for the rest of the day.

\-----

At first, the parents of the three children had only been acquaintances, casual friends at best--neighbours who said hi to each other if they happened to be outside at the same time. But Bobbi was a precocious toddler who wanted to take care of the two new babies on their street, so the five of them had no choice but to become friends.

The babies don't do much at first, as is to be expected of babies, but Bobbi doesn't mind so much. She can sit and watch the sleeping babies for hours while their parents talk downstairs. Even when they cry, using their little lungs to scream until her ears felt funny, Bobbi just runs downstairs and tugs on the pant leg of the closest available parent, telling them that "Weo" or "Jemmmma" is upset.

When they are older and can crawl around, Bobbi takes it upon herself to teach them what she learns in pre-school, showing them fruits and animals and though they can't speak, they stay interested long enough that Bobbi thinks she's a good teacher and shares her toys as a reward.

One day, she decides that Leo is too hard to say, her dislike for the letter L still holding strong. The babies are half-babbling to each other in their baby speak and Bobbi turns to them, her hands on her hips. "Weo, I'm gonna call you Fitz now. It sounds better." The babies barely give her a passing glance but she is more than happy with her decision.

When Jemma bursts into tears, Bobbi runs downstairs like the good big sister she is.

\-----

Bobbi wakes up one day when she is four years old and feels in her bones that today is a special day. The babies aren't even one yet, but something good will happen. She can't explain why, but she bounds down the stairs to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Someone is in a good mood," her mother says over the pancakes that she is making for her daughter, and Bobbi is smiling so wide that it starts to hurt.

"Today is gonna be a special day, Mommy."

They leave it at that.

Bobbi doesn't have pre-school today, so she got to sleep in _and_ she knows it will be a good day. Auntie Manda brings baby Jemma over at 10AM and Auntie Mary brings baby Fitz over at 10:15AM, and her mother and her two aunts sit in the kitchen and have coffee. Bobbi isn't allowed to have coffee because it'll make her "even more hyper than usual", whatever that is supposed to mean, but she once snuck a sip of her father's coffee and it tasted like dirt.

Jemma and Fitz babble at each other in baby speak, though Bobbi doesn't give up and tries to talk to them, too. "See, babies? This is Fred, my favourite stuffed elephant." She places Fred down in front of Fitz, who grabs at the toy with his little hands, unable to hold onto it because it's bigger than he is. Jemma giggles and Bobbi goes to pick up a piece of fruit from the table. "This is a banana."

Jemma makes a face that Bobbi has come to associate with concentrating. "Bababa," she gurgles, and Bobbi raises her eyebrows so high that they probably disappear into her hair. She sits down across from the two of them on the fleece blanket, holding out the banana in her small toddler fist.

"Banana. Try again, Jemma."

Jemma scrunches up her face. "Ba--bababa."

She tries this so many times that it feels like an hour goes by, but it's really only ten minutes and the best that Jemma can do is _bababa_ , so Bobbi sighs, throwing the banana back onto the table before she turns back and points to herself. "Maybe this will work. Bobbi." She points to her chest and crouches down. "Bobbi."

Fitz is on his back, barely paying any attention as he reaches for the stuffed monkey that Auntie Mary brought for him, but Jemma is still watching closely. "Bah--"

"Bobbi." She frowns. "Well, it's Barbara, but I hate that name."

"Bah--Bahba."

Bobbi's eyes go wide as she flattens her stomach to the floor, her legs kicking up behind her. "Bobbi."

Jemma waves one tiny fist. "Beeeeee! Beeeeebeeee."

She tries not to sigh in frustration. "Bobbi."

"Bah-bee."

The room goes silent except for Fitz's occasional gurgle. Bobbi leaps to her feet. "Oh my goodness. Say it again, Jemma. _Bobbi_."

"Bahbee!"

"AUNTIE MANDA! JEMMA SAID MY NAME!"

There's a hushed silence before three women come bounding up the stairs. Jemma's mother rushes forward. "Did she really speak?" She scoops Jemma into her arms, shaking one little hand with her own. "Daddy is going to be so upset when he finds out your first word wasn't _Dada_."

Bobbi leaps up like a frog and points to herself, waving at Jemma. "Jemma, try it again. _Bobbi_."

"BAHBEE!" Jemma is squealing now, her voice dissolving into a giggle at the face Bobbi makes.

In the coming hour, Auntie Manda makes several phone calls and Bobbi can't stop smiling. Little Fitz is confused about the commotion but he still giggles when Auntie Mary picks him up, swinging him from side to side. He presses his face against his mother's, his mouth very close to her ear and her eyes go wide.

"Well, Bobbi, today has been full of surprises," Auntie Mary says, crouching down so Fitz can reach his arms toward Bobbi's neck. Bobbi leans in, her brows furrowed in confusion.

Fitz leans in and presses his wet baby mouth to her ear, giggling. " _Bahbee_ ," he whispers, and Bobbi falls to the floor, flat on her butt.

Today is the best day _ever_.

\-----

When the babies learn to walk, Fitz is first this time, wobbling around on his chubby little legs and Bobbi is quick enough to catch him when he stumbles and nearly cracks his head on the coffee table. Jemma takes a little longer, a week after Fitz starts walking. She decides to be the quiet one for once, walking from the family room into the kitchen before Bobbi even realises that she's gone. Bobbi drops the book she was reading and marches into the kitchen to follow her sister, Fitz waddling behind her.

"Jemma and Fitz keep surprising me!" she declares, and her mother laughs, patting the chair beside her so that she'll climb up. "But now they can both walk and talk, which means we can have real play time outside, right?"

Playtime is a daily occurrence. When school starts, Bobbi rushes home from kindergarten to change into her swimsuit and waits impatiently for her mother to put on her sunscreen before she runs outside to where the kiddie pool is. Auntie Manda and Auntie Mary bring the babies over--Jemma in her bright blue swimsuit with a skirt and floaties, and Fitz in dinosaur-printed swim trunks--and they get to splash around in the pool and run through the sprinkler until it's time for dinner.

It isn't that Bobbi doesn't have friends at school. No, she has lots of friends, but she loves her siblings the most. One day her father asks her if she knows that Fitz and Jemma aren't actually her siblings and she blinks at him. "Of course they are. Just because we don't have the same parents doesn't mean we're not siblings."

\-----

When Bobbi goes off to big kid school, Fitz and Jemma are still just three years old, but they're remembering things. Fitz knows that Jemma is his best friend and he likes it that way. They have their own language and despite spending nearly every waking hour together, they will always be able to talk to each other about something.

They go to pre-school the next year and stick to each other like glue. They earn a reputation as two tiny terrors, not because they're bad students--no, the two of them don't seem to have a single flaw when it comes to academics--but they giggle through most things and talk with each other when they aren't supposed to. Kindergarten doesn't make it any better.

Even when everything around them changes, Jemma remains the constant in his life. Fitz likes that very much.

\-----

Jemma doesn't remember ever being without Fitz in her life. She is four and Fitz is her best friend in the entire world and Bobbi is her big sister and this is the way that life is supposed to be. Fitz builds sandcastles and she, in her enthusiasm for his storytelling, accidentally knocks them over. They eat ice cream cones, their hands sticky with melted sugar and cream until Fitz drops his and starts crying, so she gives him hers. Bobbi helps them paint a big box to look like a submarine and they pretend to be its crew. Fitz likes his dad's camera, so he takes pictures of Jemma in her pink boa and princess tiara and glittery blue dress, and sometimes their parents catch these moments in their own pictures.

The memories that she doesn't remember are captured in other photographs. She gets her mum to sit down with her sometimes to go through the albums. Her and Fitz taking a bath together, bubbles piled on their heads; more blanket and pillow forts than she can count; Bobbi between the two sleeping babies looking like the happiest girl in the world; Fitz kissing her cheek and her making a face of disgust in one shot, another shortly after where she's laughing; Bobbi dressed in her mum's smallest clothes that still engulf her, too-big heels barely visible as she reads a book upside-down to two babies, both chewing away at stuffed animals.

Jemma likes these photos the best. Her best friends who are almost siblings to her make up the bulk of her favourite memories. When they go to the amusement park and her and Fitz get covered in syrup and powdered sugar while trying to eat a funnel cake, another photo gets added to the collection.

When she turns six, everything changes.

There is a knock on the door when Jemma is upstairs and she hides from the adults because they have important things to discuss. Her parents sat her down only last week to tell her a story about a little boy whose parents had separated. The boy lived with his father, who tragically passed away and now he would be staying with his mother's family. This boy is her half-brother and his name is Lance.

Jemma waits at the top of the stairs, listening to hushed voices and not daring to make a sound until the strangers leave. Her parents have papers to sign and by the time she hears the front door open and close again, Jemma is already lying on the floor, tracing non-existent patterns on the ceiling with a finger. As soon as she hears the door close, she leaps onto her feet and bounds down the stairs.

She is a rustle of white and green and blue and gold as she hides behind her father's legs, peering around to see her brother. He looks distant and angry and sad, but their mother is on one knee, talking to him so quietly that Jemma can't hear the words. She doesn't want to interrupt, so she continues hiding until she sees her mother wrapping her arms around the boy's shoulders.

"Lance!" she squeaks, running toward him as their mother scooches back, flying into him before she wraps her tiny arms around his middle. "Welcome home," she announces, the words muffled by his shirt before she pulls back, head tilted up to look at him. Of course, he's taller because he's ten, but she is determined that he knows she loves him, no matter what. "I'm Jemma and you're my big brother, so I'm going to show you around the house, okay?"

She takes his hand and he looks surprised, but he lets her lead.

It feels like a good omen.

\-----

Everything about this feels wrong.

Lance is nearly ten years old when his dad passes away. Eventually, it might have been the disease that was eating him from inside out, but in the end, it was the automobile accident that took him. He had always thought his father was reckless--a good man, sure, but reckless and stupid--and as he watches his father's funeral, he doesn't cry, at least not from sadness. No, the tears in his eyes are from anger.

First, his parents split up before he is even old enough to comprehend what is happening. He grows up with only a father and the occasional woman who tries to treat him like a son but they all fail when faced with a little boy who glares at them and refuses to acknowledge them. He turns to his friends, far and few between, and football. He can kick a football before he is even able to run, so his father gets him into a league as soon as Lance is old enough, and it's like magic.

When his father dies, there is a flurry of paperwork and a temporary foster home until they can sort everything out. One day, he sits outside the door where the adults are going over details and he discovers that he's getting sent away to the States to live with his mother, who has a family of her own.

He has no choice, not if he doesn't want to become a foster child, so he packs up his belongings and boards a plane with two strangers to meet his new family.

Lance barely remembers his mum. He has a vague memory of a woman with long brown hair and kind eyes bouncing him on her lap, even as she argued with his dad, but that's the extent of it. But she is the only family he has left, so he shows up on her doorstep and doesn't say a word as the adults talk. His stepdad looks like a kind man, though Lance is too angry to address anyone. The man and woman who came with him had told him that he has a younger half-sister named Jemma, but he hasn't seen anyone else in the house.

It's strange, being the black sheep, the odd one out of this new family. He notices that he has his mum's eyes and set of her jaw when she kneels in front of him to talk to him, to tell him that he is welcome in their house and that he belongs here, but she is still mostly a stranger to him. For a few minutes, he thinks this is a huge mistake and maybe he would be better off bouncing from home to home, too full of rage to stay with one family for long.

But then he meets Jemma. Well, she comes barrelling toward him without warning, and he has no choice but to hug her back.

She is a surprise.

\-----

The next day, Lance is dragged out by his sister against his own wishes to meet the neighbourhood kids.

"Lance, you have to meet Fitz and Bobbi. Fitz is only three weeks older than me and Bobbi has known us our whooooole lives!"

He doesn't want to meet anyone. He just wants to sit in his new room, an empty canvas for him to express himself that can just barely contain his anger, but here he is, walking across the street to meet Jemma's best friends. He doesn't even know what to make of his sister, this little chirpy girl who stares up at him with wide eyes and a big smile, already opening her heart to him even though his is shut.

When the door opens, the woman with curly hair and a knowing look welcomes them in and Jemma nearly flies toward the backyard, Lance mostly tripping after her.

"FIIIIITZ!" Jemma shouts, and a head of messy curls pops out from behind a tree. "Fitz, this is my big brother Lance and he just moved here and I want you to meet him." The other boy looks as small as Jemma does, though he definitely seems quieter as he approaches, caution in his movements. "Lance, this is Fitz. He's my best friend in the whole world."

Fitz raises a hand in a shy wave. "Hullo." He glances at Jemma, who is beaming and it seems like her optimism is contagious because Fitz gives a tentative smile back. "Can we go to Bobbi's now?"

The three of them exit through the fence and immediately enter another backyard, where Lance sees a girl with long blonde hair and a glare that is screaming bloody murder at him. He tries not to wince. Jemma lets go of his hand and runs toward the other girl, Fitz trailing behind her. "Bobbi! Bobbi, look, I have a big brother and you have to come meet him!"

Bobbi stands up and she's slightly taller than Lance, who straightens to make himself seem taller. She comes closer, her eyes squinting at him. Jemma doesn't notice the animosity--that, or she doesn't care. "Lance, this is Bobbi Morse. Bobbi, this is Lance Hunter, my big brother all the way from England."

The girl gives him a withering glance before turning to Jemma and Fitz, her demeanor completely changed as she grins. "Time to build our fort!" Lance remains rooted to the spot.

Bobbi is _scary_.

\-----

The new addition to the Three Musketeers scowls a whole lot. This is the first thing Fitz notices about Jemma's big brother, but he reminds himself that the Three Musketeers also became four, and so if Jemma trusts him, then so does Fitz.

He might be quieter than Jemma, but they both notice the same things. Bobbi's cold shoulder toward Lance, unwilling to bend to change. Lance's thinly concealed anger about being an outsider in his new family. Jemma chooses to ignore it, while he takes note of it.

He likes Lance, even when the older boy is shouting. (He's used to shouting. He has to do it himself sometimes when he wants to be heard over Jemma at her most adamant.) In an attempt at peacemaking, Lance teaches them all how to play football.

Fitz is a quick learner, but he was never exactly good at sports. He can kick the ball and run with it, but he has no aim to speak of. This is one of the things at which he is slightly better than Jemma, who can't multitask on the field, not when she keeps tripping over the ball. Bobbi refuses to listen to Lance's instructions when he tells her, but Fitz sees her taking mental notes when Lance is teaching someone else. She's probably really good, but she won't show anyone.

It takes the better part of two years before Bobbi finally warms up to Jemma's brother. "I was always the oldest," she mutters under her breath to no one in particular but Fitz is the only one who hears. He places a hand on her arm to placate her.

"We still love you, Bobbi, but we just need more to make room for more love for Hunter." Bobbi has this penchant for calling everyone by their surnames, though she only bends that rule sometimes for Jemma. Fitz doesn't mind--he hates his first name. "Besides, maybe you should finally show him how good at football you are." She gives him a look of surprise, eyebrows shooting toward her hairline. "I know you're just pretending."

Within an hour and a half, Bobbi and Lance are in the backyard, both panting and sweating and unwilling to accept defeat at the hand of the other, the football directly in between them. Fitz and Jemma are watching on, part fearful that this will end poorly and part gleeful that they're finally facing off. Neither one is taking sides, sitting in chairs facing the makeshift football field as they sip their lemonades.

An hour later, the older two are both no longer standing. Lance is sprawled out on his back, staring at the sky as he tries to catch his breath, while Bobbi is kneeling, her legs having given out beneath her. Fitz looks up from his notebook where he was scribbling ideas down at Jemma, who is humming along to the boombox and doodling in his margins. He gives the notebook to Jemma before leaping down and walking to the center of the field. He looks around at both of them before speaking.

"I think this is a draw, yeah?"

\-----

The cardboard castle that Jemma makes is a work of art. Her parents helped, of course, but it is her idea and it sets up the stage for her favourite story of Fitz's.

Her best friend is very good at making up stories. Mrs. Fitz says that he has a good imagination, to which Jemma always nods. This one is something she helped him with, a story that sounds like a normal princess story, but she isn't a normal princess. And now that Bobbi and Lance get along a little better, she ropes them into playing pretend.

Fitz is holding a big book that looks older and heavier than he is, reading the story out loud as Jemma, Bobbi, and Lance play it out. Lance is covered in tin foil, holding a foam sword in one hand and a broomstick horse in the other. Bobbi is wearing an old Halloween costume repurposed into a jacket, her face painted green with scales. She mimics claws with her fingers and nails.

Jemma, meanwhile, is the princess. The tiara on her head is lopsided, her sparkly dress haphazardly draped over herself as she pretends to be trapped. Her and Fitz are clever, though, and it turns out that the dragon is working for the princess. Bobbi and Lance pretend to fight for a long time and Jemma is about to yell at them to stop when her mother calls them in for snacks.

"Truce!" she hears Lance yell as they run inside, and Bobbi gives him a high five in return.

\-----

When Jemma is in the third grade, she gets chosen for orchestra. Fitz does not, but he doesn't hold this against her--she always had the better ear for music. He prefers writing, so when Jemma is busy practicing her violin, he sits down and write stories.

He is still only beginning, but sometimes he thinks he is quite good. He gives Jemma his first short story for her ninth birthday and she gives him a hug in return, and they both ignore the giggles of the other kids at Jemma's birthday party.

During her first orchestra concert, the entire orchestra is just fourth graders and they all sound varying degrees of horrible, but Fitz sees Jemma on the stage and beams at her, and when she comes half-stumbling toward her family and Fitz, he wraps her up in a hug.

Hugs become their _thing_.

\-----

Bobbi goes to her first sleepover when she's twelve, and Fitz and Jemma are only slightly lost. The three of them have had sleepovers before, of course, but this is different. Bobbi isn't spending the night at a sibling's house. They decide to have their own sleepover.

"Mum, can Fitz and I have a sleepover?" Jemma drums her fingers against the counter as she waits for a response. It's Friday evening and it's not even dark outside yet and Lance is home from practice already, and Jemma watches as he walks by toward the TV, some match playing. "Maybe in the treehouse?"

Her mother turns toward the front room. "Lance, would you like to join them?"

"Ugh, no, Mum," he replies, eyes glued to the TV. He's going through a _rebellious phase_ , according to their mother, so they let him be for now.

Jemma gets a definitive yes before she rings up Fitz's house and fifteen minutes later, he shows up with a backpack and a pillow and does a cartwheel in her backyard. She laughs and holds up his legs so he can do a handstand and he leaves his backpack next to the big oak tree so they can go inside and convince her mother to let them make s'mores and ants on a log, the only way Jemma can convince him to eat his vegetables.

Two hours later, after they've brushed their teeth and said goodnight to her parents, Fitz is scrambling up the tree. He's most reckless around her and Jemma frowns.

"Leopold Fitz, there is a ladder for a reason!"

Fitz ignores her, swinging into the treehouse and disappearing from view. Jemma crosses her arms as his head pops out from the doorway. "Oh, go on, Jemma, I'm already up here!"

Jemma climbs up, her blanket thrown over her shoulder, her own bag strapped to her back and when she reaches the top, she pokes Fitz's shoulder. "Climbing trees is scary. Don't scare me like that," she says in lieu of a reprimand. He shrugs and they set up their little camp, complete with the battery-powered lantern. The moon is nearly full and they can see a few stars and Jemma gasps when she looks out the window. "Look, Fitz, there's Orion, and Cassiopeia!"

They name as many constellations as they can before they break out the storybooks, taking turns reading out loud. Before long, Fitz starts yawning and Jemma is already tucked in, slowly succumbing to sleep. She feels, rather than sees, Fitz lie down next to her and she turns toward him.

"Jemma?"

She gives a sleepy smile. "Yes?"

Fitz turns toward her now, tucking one hand under his pillow. "We're gonna be best friends forever, right?"

She just closed her eyes but opens one to look at him, scrutinising. "Of course, Fitzy. You're my best friend in the whole world." She removes her hand she tucked under her own pillow, holding out her pinky. "Pinky swear."

He takes it. "Pinky swear."

\-----

Jemma has been playing piano for a few years now, but tonight is the first recital to which she has invited both Fitz and Bobbi. Lance has football practice, or else she would have invited him, too.

Fitz sits in the audience next to Bobbi, who sits next to Jemma's parents. There is a bouquet of flowers under his seat, filled with carnations and an iris and a bunch of other flowers that he doesn't recognise, but his mum said it would be perfect. Bobbi grins at him knowingly, which confuses him, but he sits through all of the little kids playing, some of whom are awful and some of whom are really good.

When Jemma comes up and the teacher announces her name, Fitz fights the urge to cheer loudly, instead focusing on her playing. He always hears her complaining about how she should have started earlier, how she isn't that good, but when she starts to play, Fitz is pretty sure she's amazing.

He seems to lose control of his jaw for a few moments. It isn't that he hasn't heard her play, having attended nearly all of her recitals, but she always pulls out all the stops and plays her pieces to perfection. He turns to Bobbi, who looks stunned, and he looks down at Jemma's parents who are beaming.

At the end of the concert, Fitz finds Jemma first, weaving in and out of the crowd, the bouquet held aloft in one hand. When he finally sees her, he quickly hides the bouquet behind his back, walking toward her with a smile. "That was amazing, Jemma."

Jemma makes a face, tucking her hair behind her ears. "I messed up so many times, though!" Her brows furrow then, peering around him. What are you hiding?"

His tiny frame can't cover the entire bouquet so he holds it out to her, feeling quite awkward about it. "It's for you. From me and my mum."

She beams and wraps her arms around his shoulders, ducking around the flowers and turning to kiss his cheek. "Thank you, Fitz!" Pulling back, she reaches for the bouquet and sticks her nose into the blooms. "They're beautiful."

In the car on the way home, Jemma's dad picks up Lance from practice, and Fitz turns to Jemma beside him and watches her wrinkle her nose at her brother. "Ew, Lance, you smell."

Lance ignores her disgust and turns around to give her a sloppy one-armed hug, laughing when she squirms out of his grasp. "Ta, duck. You have to play your piece for me when we get home, yeah?"

She nods and Fitz fights the urge to laugh, knowing exactly what she'll say next. "After you take a shower."

Bobbi cackles.

\-----

"I was born three weeks early."

Fitz says this as a declaration rather than a statement when he sits down next to Jemma on the bus home from school. She turns to him with an eyebrow raised. "I was born a week late, so _technically_ I was supposed to be older than you."

He grins, drumming on his backpack in his lap. "That doesn't mean you're any more mature than I am."

"You, mature?"

Fitz laughs and Jemma's attempt at keeping a straight face crumbles as she bursts into laughter, too. When they both recover, they look at each other in silence, something between them that feels unfamiliar and makes them both blush. But that something passes fairly quickly as someone throws a paper airplane that lands in their seat, nearly catching Fitz in the eye.

"OY, WATCH IT," Jemma yells, and Fitz holds back a smile.

The bus stops at the end of their street and they both hop off, chattering away as they head toward Jemma's house. It's then that they spot Bobbi, who beat them home today and Jemma starts running.

She reaches for Fitz's hand.

They've held hands before. How could they avoid it when they grew up almost precisely across the street from each other? But this time, it makes Jemma feel funny, like there's something tickling her insides. Her cheeks feel really warm but she doesn't turn around to see how Fitz reacts because she doesn't really want to know.

She catches Bobbi's eye and Bobbi inclines her head like she sees something, but when the two of them stop in front of her, she says nothing, only gives Jemma a look.

"Okay, troublemakers, let's start planning."

\-----

It takes the better part of six months for their grand operation to become a reality, but the four of them finally convince their families to go on vacation together. All five of their parents need the break, especially Mrs. Fitz, and Jemma, being the mastermind, sorted through all the information to make a presentation for their case.

The gates to Disney World look _gigantic_.

Okay, so they aren't that big, but to Jemma and Fitz and Lance and Bobbi, this is going to be the time of their lives and everything looks better through the sparkle of optimism. Bobbi has Mickey Mouse ears on and Jemma has a Disney princess shirt and Fitz has a Toy Story backpack and they are ready to go.

Lance is 16 and Bobbi is 15, so the adults give the kids the okay to wander around on their own, so long as Fitz and Jemma stay with the older two. After Bobbi gets the cell phone they're to use if they need to find their parents, they're off.

They find Splash Mountain first and Lance grins, pointing at it from a distance. "That one first."

Jemma shakes her head. "No because if we get wet, we have to ride all of the rides wet!" She pulls out the map she stuffed into Fitz's backpack, her eyes flying over it. "Space Mountain first."

Bobbi looks uneasy as they walk toward it. "I'm going to stay here. I don't like roller coasters."

Fitz turns to her, incredulous. "You don't like roller coasters?"

She shrugs, but they let her be and the three of them continue onward. Jemma screams a lot, but not as much as Lance does, and when they reach the end of the ride, they can hear Bobbi snorting with laughter.

Bobbi dares Lance to get a butterfly mask at the nearest face painting station, which he does and walks around with a grin as he makes faces behind Jemma and Fitz in all of their photos. Fitz eats so much for lunch that when they make it to Splash Mountain, he nearly gets sick but in the end, he laughs it off and picks another ride for them.

At the end of the day, Fitz's backpack is loaded with both his and Jemma's souvenirs, Bobbi has a stuffed bear that is nearly bigger than she is, and Lance is covered in face paint.

The first day of their vacation is a smashing success.

\-----

Lance is getting them all snacks and Bobbi had to use the bathroom, so Fitz and Jemma agree to stay put, waiting by the spinning teacups. They hide under the shade of the trees, trying to avoid getting sunburns even though they've probably already failed. Jemma sighs, looking at the overly large spinning cups filled with giggling, screaming children and adults who are really just big kids themselves. She wants to go on the ride, but if her and Fitz duck out for even a moment, her brother or Bobbi are sure to appear right then and panic.

She turns to Fitz, who is watching her, a peculiar look on his face. The half-formed question she was going to ask dissolves, replaced by a frown on her face. "What?"

He shrugs a shoulder, turning to look at the ride, too. "Want to have another go when Hunter and Bobbi get back?"

Jemma nods, her hands clasped around her neck as she tries to discern exactly what it was behind his expression earlier. She has been mulling over a few things herself, namely what she was feeling when they held hands. It happened far less often now, though she found herself looking for excuses to reach for his hand more and more and acting on those impulses less and less. "Before we have any food. You almost threw up going on a roller coaster after eating, and this can only be worse."

He makes a face, surely remembering how he felt the other day, and Jemma sticks her tongue out at him. Her eyes drift to a girl who looks hardly that much older than she is. The girl has her arms wrapped around a boy's waist and he leans in for a kiss.

She tilts her head. Fitz catches the motion and raises an eyebrow before turning around to find the object of her attention. He wheels back around almost instantly, his eyes wide and his face reddening. "Jemma--"

"I think we should kiss."

Fitz sputters, at a loss for words. "Wh-what?"

Jemma looks at him, her own cheeks flushing. "I just mean it'd be better if we got our first kiss out of the way with someone we trust, right?"

Fitz's face is awash with confusion and embarrassment and other emotions Jemma can't quite pinpoint. "I trust you with my life," he responds in all seriousness, though his blush makes her nearly unable to suppress her nervous giggles.

"And no one is here to pay attention, so why not?" She makes a list of reasons in her head, trying to settle her own emotions into something that makes sense. Fitz only nods, so she steps closer, closer. Her face is inches from his when she stops, frowning. "This won't be very good, will it? Neither of us have any--"

Fitz leans in before she can finish, before either of them get so nervous that they back out of it entirely. His lips are warm from the sun and he smells like cotton candy and funnel cake and Fitz. Neither of them know what they're doing, and their teeth bump together, their noses slightly smushed, but she feels warm all over and it has nothing to do with the sun. He pulls back and she is left speechless, a feat most people cannot achieve.

They spring apart and stare at each other, both bright red, neither one willing to speak. Just as Jemma is about to say something, there's a loud whistle and she whips around to see Bobbi checking the cell phone in her hand, waving the other in the air. "Where the hell is Hunter? I'm starving."

Jemma bites her lip before responding. "He probably got distracted by some strongman contest," she jokes, her fingers fidgeting. Bobbi gets closer to them and her eyes narrow, but thankfully she says nothing. Fitz is looking away, trying not to catch either girl's eye.

"Well then, let's slowly make our way to the nearest obnoxiously large bell and hope he's there."

\-----

They don't bring up the kiss again, but something is different. Fitz wonders if this strange but not unpleasant feeling between them was always there and perhaps they just never noticed. Jemma blushes more and Fitz trips over his feet in her presence, but nothing has really changed.

His mother, however, has become more frazzled lately, and Fitz pretends not to notice the late notice bills they keep getting on the post or the phone calls she makes late at night to Fitz's grandmother when he's supposed to be asleep. There is something wrong, but he doesn't ask because it will only worry her more.

Instead, Fitz works very hard on his story. He has decided to write a novel and he is nearly finished, and at age twelve and six months, that feels like the greatest accomplishment in the world. Of course, he has written so many stories by now that it feels more tedious than anything else.

He walks over to Jemma's the day that he writes down his last sentence, the entirety of his book in his backpack when he scales a tree and raps on her window with his knuckles. She jumps nearly a foot in the air and wheels around.

"Fitz, don't do that!" She has one hand held to her heart and the other unlatches the window. She beams at him like there is nothing wrong, and when she smiles like that, he believes it. "What's with the surprise visit?"

He hops into her room and takes his backpack off, reaching into it to give her the stacks of notebooks. "I wanted to give you this."

She frowns, reaching to take them from him, setting them down on the floor and picking up the first book. "Fitz... Is this your story? The one you've been working on for the past three years?"

He nods, feeling his cheeks redden rapidly. "Yeah. I want you to have it. I mean... I've spent a lot of time writing it, but I'll keep writing other stories and this one reminds me of you."

She looks up at him, her eyes shining. He hopes she doesn't cry because if she does, he might just burst into tears, too. He might confess exactly what his fears most about his mother's secrecy and that is the last thing he wants. But she holds herself together, flinging herself at him and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Oh, Fitz. I'm honoured." She has a number of his old stories, even the first one he wrote in school on a single sheet of the paper one learns to write on, but this one feels like he is giving a piece of himself to her, as though she wasn't already the most important person in his life.

It feels like he might be falling apart, so at least one of the pieces should stay with her.

\-----

Today is the worst day of Jemma's life, and the days to come will be just as bad, if not worse.

Fitz comes to her in the middle of the night, rapping on her bedroom window with tears in his eyes. She is confused and shivers in her pyjamas but opens the window and hugs him until he calms down enough to tell her what is wrong.

"We're moving to Scotland."

Those four words hit her like a ton of bricks. Her best friend is leaving and there is nothing she can do about it. He blubbers about how his mum can't afford the house anymore and they're going to live with his grandmother, but all Jemma hears is the roar of the rush of blood in her ears and the thought that _Fitz is moving_ running over and over in her head.

In the coming two months, they spend every waking moment possible together, and even sleep over at each other's homes nearly every night. Jemma knows this may only make their separation hurt more, but she can't bear the thought of not seeing him. She has to take advantage of what little time they have left. She tries to hold it together, trying to brighten the mood when his gets clouded over. He is visibly miserable, avoiding packing and everything that he needs to do before boarding the plane, but Jemma slowly coaxes him into getting ready.

She herself is not ready, but they can at least fake some semblance of normalcy.

The day he and his mother are set to leave, Jemma wakes up in his room and cries quietly into his shoulder. She feels his tears drip into her hair but neither one says a word as she slips out of the house to return to hers. When he sees her next, her eyes are puffy and rimmed in red and he almost doesn't want to be there so their last memory of each other isn't of them crying, but he wraps his arms around her waist, all elbows and knees and she fits against him, her nose pressing into his neck.

"This isn't goodbye forever," he murmurs, putting on a brave face. "We can still call each other and send emails and write letters."

Jemma nods into his shirt before pulling back and giving him a watery smile. "Best friends forever, right? We'll keep in touch."

The rest of the day is a blur and the one memory he holds on to is the kiss she presses to his cheek, lingering just too long for it to be totally friendly. It is the only thing keeping him from crying until he gets on the plane.

\-----

For the first time in Lance's life, he feels like he found his purpose.

The team gets wind of a talent scout arriving in the area and everyone works incredibly hard in case they get noticed. He is confident enough in his abilities that he hardly changes anything, but perhaps he gets a bit more competitive and perhaps he shows off just a bit more, but it seems to pay off.

He's still angry all the time, but football becomes his outlet. It means he's _good_.

The scout who is speaking with their coach is one that Lance remembers from last year. She shares her name with a month, he thinks, but he doesn't try to find out until she approaches him after practice one day.

"Lance Hunter?"

He turns, still moping his forehead and neck with his towel. "Yeah?"

"I'm Melinda May. Do you have a moment?"

When he gets home, he is nearly bouncing on his heels with excitement. Jemma frowns and turns toward him, though the frown seems to be permanently etched onto her face now that Fitz is gone. Her textbooks are open in front of her, as though she had been doing her homework, but there are several sheets of folded paper clutched in her hands that must be from her best friend. "Well, out with it, Lance. We can't wait for you to tell us so you'll stop ricocheting off the walls."

His parents look at him expectantly, so he draws a breath. "I was just offered a full ride to University of California Santa Barbara for football."

Though his parents are proud of him and Jemma says she's happy for him, he knows there is something wrong, but nothing can dampen his spirits tonight.

\-----

It's only two of them left now, and Bobbi feels the worst for Jemma, who is now short a best friend and a brother. A brother who came in like a whirlwind and left like a monsoon. A best friend who was almost certainly more than that.

And now she has to prepare herself for her pseudo older sister to leave, too.

Bobbi and Jemma carpool to and from school, so when Bobbi parks in her driveway, Jemma enters the house like she lives there and Bobbi bounds up just behind her, locking her car before rushing toward the stack of mail.

Three letters from universities are set aside and she picks them up, one by one.

Accepted to Emerson College.

Accepted to University of Texas Austin.

She holds the letter from Northwestern University in her hands and takes a deep breath, willing her hands to stop shaking. She takes the letter opener and slowly tears it open.

She shrieks.

"I GOT ACCEPTED AT NORTHWESTERN!"

\-----

All of the most important people in her life are going or gone and Jemma has never felt more alone.

She takes out the acceptance letter she has hidden in her dresser and takes a deep breath before she heads downstairs to find her parents in the front room. This is her choice. She wants to transfer to a music prep school because it is her passion and if she stays here, she'll be plagued with happy memories stained with melancholy.

It had been a backup plan, but now she needs to make it her priority.

"Mum, Dad? I got accepted to Interlochen."

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while! I've been sitting on this AU for a while now and it's not entirely finished, but I'll be publishing it in parts. I'm currently very busy writing for NaNoWriMo, but I'm hoping to have updates every 1-2 weeks until I reach the one part that hasn't been written yet. As usual, it's a non-scientist AU because that's what I live for.


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